There are approximately eight million (8,000,000) hand and wrist injuries each year. These range from minor sprains and bruises to major fractures, partial paralysis, burns, and deformation. Included in these are injuries or diseases of the spinal cord that affect movement of these extremities.
Because of the anatomical complexity of the wrist area, rehabilitation of the forearm, hand and wrist are often lengthy and must be carefully monitored. A number of devices have been disclosed in the prior art which are specifically designed to rehabilitate the forearm, wrist, hand and fingers. None, however, offer the versatility of being able to perform a number of different exercises to the forearm, wrist, hand and finger region while maintaining a physically small size as well as a mechanically simple construction.
Here, applicants have provided a device designed to accommodate a wide range of exercise needs to strengthen the wrist, hand, fingers or arm. Applicants' device allows an adjustable, quantifiable degree of resistance needed to improve strength and/or flexibility.
Applicants' device provides for a standard housing attachable to a table, chair or other mounting surface. The standard housing is made up of sidewalls with a spacer block at both ends. A movable fulcrum is mounted to the housing sidewalls and engages a lever rod which is spring loaded at one end. The sidewalls also support an arm rest. The removed end of the lever rod has a biased means such as a light, medium or heavy weight spring (depending upon the particular exercise needs). The removed end of the lever rod is provided with various attachments which allow the standard housing to be used in conjunction with the various attachments to provide simple, quantifiable, mechanical and adjustable exercise means to the arm, wrist, hand and fingers.
The various attachments can be quickly changed out for different exercises without the patient having to move. This saves valuable therapy time and makes the device advantageous for use in rehabilitation facilities.
Fulcrum adjustment provides a wide range of resistance, the range further expandable depending upon the weight of the spring used and the position of the fulcrum. In addition, the arm rest has an adjustment for moving forward and backward, as well as pivoting with respect to the housing sidewalls. These adjustments may be required for the many different exercises capable with the various attachments to the standard housing.
Applicants' device has been carefully designed to bring an appropriate level of sophistication to the different phases of the post-injury rehabilitation process. Never before has there been a practical, comprehensive set of tools to follow a patient recovering from a wrist or hand injury during hospitalization through to completion of the rehabilitation. Quite often, after initial in-patient rehabilitation, a point is reached when the patient has recovered sufficiently that intensive and expensive therapy can no longer be justified. At this point, however, the therapy is usually not complete and the patient has not fully recovered. This can be a critical time. If not fully recovered, a patient is not only vulnerable to re-injury but, without a comprehensive program, may never fully recover. After initial hospitalization, the patient is usually either referred to out-patient therapy (which is also quite expensive) or is given instructions to continue exercises at home.
Rehabilitation hospital patients are usually rehabilitated on complex, institutionally-oriented machines. Applicants' device, while suitable for use in an institution, is able to follow the patient home in its many versions, adapting to the many different and specific needs of individual patients. Not only can the patient benefit from having home access to a proper and diversified exercise device after initial discharge from rehab, the health care industry and insurance companies will save valuable resources by being able to significantly reduce the therapist-supervised, outpatient therapy.